Improvement in steam and vacuum pumps



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

L. .D. B. SHAW.

STEAM AND VACUUM PUMP.

No. 170,968. Patented Dec.1 4=,1875.

FiyJ

N. PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C.

2 SheetsSheet 2.

L. D. B. SHAW.

STEAM AND VACUUM PUMP.

Patented Dec. 14, 1875.

171 amnio- N. PEIERS, FHOTGUTHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D c.

barren STATES PATENT @FFIGE LORENZO D. B. SHAW, 013 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN S TE AM AND VACUUM PUMPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 170,968, dated December 14, 1875; application filed May 26, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LORENZO D. B. SHAW, of Boston, in the county of Sufiolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam and Vacuum Pumps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a vertical section of my improved vacuum-pump. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the supply and exhaust steam and air pipes and valves. Fig.3 is a horizontal section of the cylinder, showing a plan or top view of the float. Fig. 4 is a vertical Section of head H, with a side view of the weights and the devices for operating them. 1

The same letter indicates the same part wherever it occurs.

My invention consists in the construction of a vacuum-pump which is automatic, re-

quiring no engine to operate it; which is selfbalanced, causing no vibration or pounding while in operation which protects the steam from contact with the surface of the cold water in the pump-cylinder, thus greatly economizing steam and fuel 5 and which, by the saving of friction in the working parts, is little liable to wear or to get out of order, or to be injured by water holding gritty substances in suspension, all as hereinafter more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, A marks the pump-cylinder, provided with heads H H, bolted to its flanges, and made tight by rubber packing a. Mostof the mechanism of the pump is contained in the cylinder. It is connected with the well or source of water by the supply-pipe F, controlled by a check-valve at E, which prevents the return of water to the well. Thedelivery from the cylinder is made through the exhaust-pipe D, provided with a check-valve at B. The steam for creating the vacuum is admitted through the inlet-pipe T, controlled by the globe-valve V, and the expelled air escapes through the exhaust-pipe S, controlled by the check-valve U. The entrance of steam and escape of air and relief of pressure are regulated by the reciprocating rotatory movement of a jacket, R, which fits upon the cone G, and covers the lower openings of the inlet and exhaust pipes T S. Holes b c in the jacket R are alternately brought to coincide with one or the other of said lower openings, so as to bring the said inlet and exhaust pipes alternately into communication with the interior of the cylinder. The movements of the jacket R are produced by two weights, K P, whose flanges ff alternately engage the pins d d, which project from the sides of the jacket. A stop-motion, I, serves to limit the movement of the jacket, in either direction, at the proper points to open the inlet or exhaust pipe at the required times. The weight K slides vertically on the guiderod M, and the weight 1? on the rod N. W js a large hollow float, which rides up and down in the cylinder A as the water rises and falls.

It is kept from turning in the cylinder by the notched projections Z, which receive the guides y, attached to the inside of the cylinder. To the float W is attached a chain, X, which passes up over a pulley, J, attached to the cylinder-head, and is fastened to the weight P. When the float W descends to the bottom of the cylinder the weight P is raised to its highest position, as shown in Fig. 1. A rod, 0, attached to the bottom of weight K, projects downward nearly to the top of the float W when in its lowest position, so that when the float rises it will raise the weight K, while leaving the weight P free from the suspending action of the chain. A hook, L, having a long arm projecting over weight P, is pivoted at g to the cylinder-head, and engages with and supports the weight K by its flange f, when the weight is in its upper position. A similar hook, 0, pivoted at h. performs the same office for the weight I. The weight K is released from the hook L by raising the extreme end of the hook-arm. The weight I? is similarly released by raising the end of arm 0. As each weight attains its highest position it releases the hook of the opposite weight, and

sufiers that weight to fall.

at a suitable height to receive it. As the water is driven out the float W descends and raises the weight 1? until it comes into contact with the arm L, raises it, and releases the weight K, the fiangefof which, as the weight falls, strikes the pind on jacket R, closes the inlet-opening, and opens the exhaust or pressure-escape opening by bringing the hole 0 in the jacket directly over the low'eropening of the exhaust-pipe. The steam immediately escapes through thatpipe past the check-valve U, and as that valve prevents the entrance of air a vacuum is formed in the cylinder. To relieve this vacuum water from the well enters through pipe. F past check-valve E, checkyalve B preventing the return of water tothe cylinder through pipe D. As the cylinder fills the float W rises, and, by means of rod 6, raises weight K till it comes in contactwith arm 0, raises it, and releases weight P, which, in falling, strikes pin d on jacket R, closes the exhaust or pressure-escape pipe, and opens the steam-supply pipe T, closing check-valve E, forcing down the float, opening valve B, and driving the water from the cylinder through pipe D into the tank orreservoir, as before. The float W not only prevents the steam from coming into contact with the surface of the coldwater and becoming rapidly condensed, but its upper portion soon becolnes hot, and thus aids in retarding thecondensation. This efiects an economy of steam, and consequently of fueL- By the peculiar action of the jacketR the relief of pressure takes place at the same instant that the steam is shut off, producing the vacuum at once, and making the action of the pump very quick.

' The float or piston not fitting the cylinder tightly, there is no liability to wear of either by reason of any grit that may be in suspen- Y sion in the water. i Theonly part of the apparatus where there are moving parts in close contact is the cone 0, on which the jacket R fits and'turns, and that is not brought into contact with the Water in the cylinder, and is therefore not liable to be injured by the grit it may contain.

Having thus described my invention, What 2. The jacket R, provided with the lugs d d, in combination with the float W, chain X,

pulleyJ, weights 1? K, hooks L O, and stop I,

all constructed and operating substantially as described.

3. A vacuum-pump in'which the admission of steam and the relief of pressure are controlled by valve mechanism operated by the alternate fall of two weights, which are alternately raised to'their highest position by the rise and fall of a float resting on the water in thepump-cylinder, all substantially as set forth. v

The above specification of my said inven tion signed and witnessed, at Boston, this 5th day of May, A. D. 1875.

VLORENZO D. B. SHAW. Witnesses:

SIMoN WING, SAMUEL P. ABBOTT. 

